5 Answers
5

If you have the Lenovo tools installed on your laptop, bring up the monitor configuration tool with Fn and the appropriate Function key. On my W500 it's F7, but I don't know if it is necessarily the same on your R500.

This will work after the PC loads Windows, and only if he has the hotkey and the driver installed. The key combination is FN+F7 on all Thinkpads. To fix it correctly it needs go to BIOS as stated in the answer below.
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MelvynMar 29 '10 at 18:16

Use the graphics driver software's latest versions (its easy if your video h/w is nVidia or ATI) and set the primary and secondary displays from inside there. This usually fixes it. Better if you can install addon software with nice special apps and functions that latop manufacturers usually make available for download from their support site.

This works better than others because they know the quirks of the actual bios and h/w they use :)
Only make sure its compatible with the ltest update of the OS - windows update only 50% of the time updates the drivers to the latest. Best way is to go and download from the laptop manufacturer's website.